Measuring Embodied Energy, Carbon, and Embodied Water of Construction Materials: A Case Study of University Building

9 pages•Published: December 11, 2023

Abstract

Buildings consume nearly 40% of the global energy supply and 16% of fresh water annually in their construction and operation, resulting in 39% of the global carbon emissions. Looking at the rate at which the global climate is changing, reducing energy and carbon impacts as well as water use of construction is essential. This paper presents input-output-based hybrid models to analyze embodied energy (EE), embodied carbon (EC), and embodied water (EW) of fourteen construction materials and a university building. The results indicate that the total EE, EC, and EW values of the university building are 4.5 MBtu/ ft2, 528.7 kgCO2/ft2, and 1,049.6 gallon/ft2, respectively. These results emphasize the extensive energy, carbon, and water impacts associated with building construction, which must be addressed. The intensities of total EE and EW of the construction materials vary in the range of 0.1-11.0 MBtu/ft2 and 2.2-134.3 gallon/ft2 indicating water use as an important indicator for material selection. The EC and EW values share a strong positive correlation at the building level, which weakens at the material intensity level. Findings highlight the significance of selecting materials based on not just energy and carbon impacts but also embodied water use.

Keyphrases: buildings, Embodied carbon, embodied energy, embodied water, Life Cycle Energy

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 4, pages 587--595

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/VQBp
	https://doi.org/10.29007/dn4n